Chapter 80: The Four Little ones are so Obedient
What else could Lu Ping and Lu An do other than come over here to pick up their mother? It wasn’t good for their mother to live with their sister. They were asking to be cursed at by the villagers.
Now that Lu Ping and Lu An had promised, Lu Jiao didn’t argue further. She walked out with her empty bowl.
Lu Ping and Lu An checked out Xie Yunjin, who lied on the bed and found their brother-in-law to be bright in the face. His gaze was energetic and dazzling like the stars in the sky. No matter how they looked at him, he didn’t look like a paralyzed patient.
“Brother-in-law, your condition appears to have improved.”
“That is great news.”
Lu Ping and Pu An were brothers. One of them was simple-minded while the other was sleek. The brothers were good-hearted and they usually spoke with sincerity. Because of Lu Jiao, Xie Yunjin was also very respectful towards them.
“I am much better now. Have you eaten breakfast?”
Lu Ping and Lu An haven’t. They were kicked out by their father in the middle of the night. Where would they go to eat?
They were too embarrassed to answer Xie Yunjin and only scratched their heads.
Xie Yunjin called out, “Lu Jiao?”
Lu Jiao entered, “What is it? You want to drink water?”
Xie Yunjin looked over to Lu Ping and Lu An, “They haven’t eaten. Fetch them some food.”
Lu Jiao glared at Xie Yunjin. This person was normally aloof yet today, he cared about her brothers? How rare.
Xie Yunjin smiled slightly after he witnessed her reaction. This woman displayed all her thoughts on her face. If he left her, she would easily get scammed. So, it would be better for him to stay by her side to take care of her.
Lu Jiao left the room. When she walked past Lu Ping and Lu An, their hearts strangely squeezed.
Lu Jiao went to Lady Tian, “Mom, let’s make some noodles for everyone.”
Lady Tian sighed in relief. Did this mean Jiaojiao had forgiven her brothers?
Lady Tian glared at her daughters-in-law, who received the message and smiled at Lady Tian.
As Lady Tian and Lu Jiao walked, the brothers’ wives surrounded the quadruplets and praised them.
“You four are so pretty and so cute.”
“I’ve never met you before. I can’t believe you four grew up so big already.”
Women instinctively love cute things. Therefore, when they saw the four little ones, their maternal instincts exploded.
“What are your names?”
The quadruplets had never met these people before and were a little dazed. Since they asked, the First Born answered accordingly, “My name is Xie Wenyao, and my nickname is First Born.”
“My name is Xie Wenjia, my nickname is Second Born.”
“My name is Xie Wenshao, my nickname is Third Born.”
“My name is Xie Wenyu, my nickname is Fourth Born.”
After they introduced themselves, Lu Jiao came back from the outside. She said to the quadruplets, “These are your aunts, pay your respect.”
Finally, the little ones learned how to call these adults.
“First aunty, second aunty.”
The aunties nodded while they grinned ear to ear. They remembered that they didn’t bring any gifts for the kids today.
The adults were embarrassed and they silently blamed their father-in-law. Why didn’t he wait until morning to wake them up? They didn’t get to prepare anything in the middle of the night.
Lu Jiao said to the quadruplets, “Your aunts forgot to bring you gifts. They will make it up to you next time.”
The little ones bowed down to thank them, “Thank you, aunties.”
The aunties felt their defense collapse as their hearts fluttered. Oh my, they were such good boys.
The second aunty had one daughter, Taozi. She was only two and didn’t know how to speak yet.
The first aunty had a son named Huzi. He couldn’t even be compared to the quadruplets. When something didn’t go his way, he would roll around on the ground.
With her eyes green, the first aunty swore to herself that the next time her son rolled around on the ground, she would skin him.
As the group chatted outside, Lu Ping, Lu An, and Lu Gui walked out.
These three were pressured to speak to Xie Yunjin and they felt uncomfortable in front of him. After all, they were merely farmers while their brother-in-law was a scholar. They felt like it took much effort to even understand some of the things their brother-in-law was saying so they didn’t want to spend any time with him.
The moment Lu Ping and Lu An came out, Lu Jiao introduced, “These are your uncles. You’ve met your youngest uncle, but you haven’t met your first and second uncles, right?”
The quadruplets called in unison, “First uncle, second uncle.”
Lu Ping and Lu An also discovered that they forgot to prepare a gift. Oh man, how embarrassing. The first time they met their nephews, they came empty-handed. This was shameful.
The second brother, Lu An, was sleek and explained quickly, “I forgot to get you a gift today. I will make it up to you later.”
The First Born shook his head, “Uncle, you don’t need to give me anything. I am happy as long as you are here.”
Even Lu Ping and Lu An felt like the four little ones were far too obedient.
Lu Jiao saw that the noodles Lady Tian was making were almost ready so she said to the four little ones, “Okay, go play outside. Let your uncles and aunts eat.”
The four little ones had already eaten breakfast so they all dashed outside to practice fighting.
Inside the room, the aunties stared at Lu Jiao in jealousy, “Sister, your four children are so obedient. How did you raise them this way?”
The first aunty was quick to complain about her own son, “Huzi is already five, older than the quadruplets. But he rolls around on the ground when something doesn’t go his way.”
Lu Jiao smiled, “You can simply ignore him if he does that again. If he doesn’t get the attention he wants, he will get up himself. Children are smart. Don’t spoil them just because they’re little. You’ll ruin them as a result.”
The first aunty thought about it and decided Lu Jiao was right. She will ignore him from now on.
Inside the living room, Lu Gui saw Lu Jiao talking so he dragged out his brothers and hid in the west bedroom to chat. He told his brothers all about Lu Jiao’s idea of teaching them tofu-making.
The brothers were touched – especially when he heard that Lu Jiao asked their mother to give them pocket money. To think that they blamed their sister and mother over five taels of silver…
The brothers started to blame themselves.
By the time Lu Jiao went to fetch them for breakfast, the brothers’ eyes were red.
Their wives stared at them, confused, “What’s the matter? Why are your eyes red?”
The first uncle looked at his wife, “Sister had taught mom tofu making. She’s asked mom to pay us money every month.”
The wives were shocked, “Making tofu? And paying us? What?”
The wives also regretted their previous actions.
Inside the yard, Lu Jiao had asked Lu Gui to go to the Second Grandma’s house to borrow their stone mill.
Once it arrived, she asked Lu Gui to grind the beans she soaked last night.
Lu Jiao used the bamboo she collected this morning to make simple containers to press against the tofu.
Once the beans were ground, she sifted the powder and then steamed it with water to make soybean milk. Once done, she poured it out to cool.